With that, the father that Dario adored walked out and left him firmly wedged between a rock and a hard place.
20
MINNIE
The first voice she heard when she started to come around on the floor of her hallway was Henry’s. ‘Minnie, love.’ He sounded worried, spoke with urgency. ‘Minnie. Come on, ma darling. Open your eyes. Minnie!’
The anxiety in that last word reached somewhere right inside her and brought her all the way round. As her vision began to clear, the first person she saw was Henry, holding her hand, then he pushed her hair back off her face and kissed her forehead.
‘You had me worried there for a moment, ma girl. I’ll go put the kettle on and let your friend take care of you.’ He gently rested her hand on her hip, then disappeared out of her field of vision, and in his place… Gladys!
Oh my word, the woman was terrifying. Her face came down so that her mouth was only inches away from Minnie’s ear, and she had a voice that could raise the dead.
‘Minnie! Jesus, you scared me there. One minute I was talking to you and then the next you went down like you’d been shot by a sniper. Never seen the likes of it. I was terrified out of my wits. And I’m not a woman that scares easily. My Fred is always saying that… “Gladys,” he says, “you’re made of steel, soyou are.” But you’ve given me two shocks in one day, and well, I think I’ve aged ten years.’
Minnie wondered if her own ears were actually bleeding. Maybe that was a side effect of fainting.
She began to push herself up on her elbows, and tried not to wince with the discomfort of it, then cleared her throat to check that she still had a voice.
‘Gladys, I’m fine. I’m sorry I scared you. I think it was just a wee faint, that’s all. It can happen sometimes if I forget to eat and if I’m not sleeping well. This last week, over Christmas, has had me all out of sorts. If you could just help me get up onto the couch…’
‘Second time today I’ve had to get you up, Minnie. We’re making a habit of this. If this carries on, I’ll be scared to let you out of my sight in case you go down like a stone and I’m not there to catch you. You hear of that, don’t you? These old folks that lie on the floor for days and then get eaten by their Yorkshire terriers. Sends a chill right down the spine.’
For the second time today, Minnie was hugely grateful to this lady. She really was. But she was also considering playing dead so Gladys might stop talking to her. She immediately chided herself for being so uncharitable. She’d tell Henry about her thoughts later though. It was the kind of thing that would make him roar with laughter, especially as he was obviously staying out of the way while Gladys was here.
Gladys held out her arm, and Minnie used that to pull herself up to a seating position, with her back against the hallway wall. One step at a time. This aging process thing was a piece of nonsense. One minute you’ve got your leotard on and you’re singing ‘Xanadu’ with Olivia Newton-John at the church hall aerobics class, and the next thing you’re an elderly lady who is fainting and can’t go from lying down to standing up without a two-minute warning.
Minnie wasn’t giving up though. Eighty was knocking on the door and she was going to face it and ride that wave all the way to ninety. Although, it would be helpful if she didn’t keep forgetting to eat or sleep, and then maybe she’d stay upright a tad longer.
Gladys was still chattering away when the front door, just a few feet away, was rattled by someone banging on it. And, oh my, there was the phone ringing too. What was this like? Emmy called her every day and Ailish phoned every second day or so, but other than that, she and Henry could go days without speaking to another human being, yet all of a sudden it was like the January sales in here.
‘That’ll be the paramedics. I’ll let them in.’
What? For a second, Minnie thought that Gladys had said paramedics. Now her ears were going as well.
‘I called them as soon as you fainted. They must have been just round the corner. One of the perks of living near a hospital.’
Minnie didn’t have time to reply because the damn phone was ringing again. In two seconds, Gladys had opened her front door and in came two paramedics, a woman and a man, both of them in their yellow jackets with their medical bags by their side.
‘I’m afraid you’ve had a wasted trip,’ Minnie informed them straight away. ‘I just had a wee faint, that’s all. I’m right as rain.’
‘I think they should be the judge of that, Minnie,’ Gladys overruled her, before turning her attention to the new arrivals. ‘That’s the second time today that she’s fallen and I was there for both of them. What’s the chances of that? I mean, thank goodness I was there. My Fred said the same thing…’
‘This morning, I tripped on a step. It could have happened to anyone…’ Minnie began, but the young female paramedic had heard enough.
‘Okay then, Minnie,’ she said, coming down onto her knees on the floor beside her. Minnie guessed she must have been about Emmy’s age, with her dark brown hair pulled back into aponytail, and a kind but no-nonsense demeanour. ‘I’m Lauren and this is Danny.’ She nodded to her partner before going on, ‘Why don’t you tell us what happened while we just run a couple of checks. First, though, is anywhere sore, do you feel like you’ve damaged anything?’
Minnie shook her head and tried to cover up her wince due to the ache that was coming from her shoulder. It was nothing she couldn’t handle. ‘No, I don’t think anything is broken. As I said, I tripped this morning, so I have a couple of skint knees, but then this afternoon was just a faint because sometimes I lose track of time and I forget to eat. I’ve got low blood pressure too, so that doesn’t help.’ She didn’t mention the pain in her hip. No point in adding to the list.
‘I’ll just check that out now for you,’ said the other paramedic, who was now kneeling by her too. He opened his case, then rummaged inside and brought out a blood pressure cuff, a thermometer and one of those oxygen test thingies that they always put on her finger when she went for her annual check-up with the GP.
The woman continued to ask questions, while she checked out Minnie’s head, then did all the tracking tests with her fingers to check her vision, then on to her arms, legs, looking for any obvious damage, even though Minnie had already assured her there was none. She appreciated the thoroughness, though.
‘Your blood pressure is definitely low, and I think you’re a bit dehydrated too.’
That reminded Minnie that Henry had said he was off to put the kettle on. Must be staying out of the way to let these good people do their work.
‘Do you think you could give my blood pressure a check with that thing too because what a fright I got,’ Gladys inserted herself. ‘I’m sure my heart could power a train, the way it’s thumping right now.’
